I am planning to move cash from Schwab to Vanguard. I'd like to pay for the one time review ($250) offered with the Voyager account status. Has anyone used this service? Will they consider all of my investments, or only the funds that are invested at Vanguard? I've always done my own investing, but college tuition and retirement looms, and I'd like some hand holding now. Thanks!

If you are talking about the Vanguard certified financial planner, I have used them a few times and have been well satisfied.

They will take everything into account, but mainly will want to focus on how to invest your investable assets (not pension, real estate, residence, gold coins, etc). They should ask you your station in life and your goals and time frames.

You would be wise to e-mail the planner, through your Vanguard representative, a spreadsheet listing of your facts, including age, goals, net worth, and where and how your money is currently invested.

Guorami wrote:I am planning to move cash from Schwab to Vanguard. I'd like to pay for the one time review ($250) offered with the Voyager account status. Has anyone used this service? Will they consider all of my investments, or only the funds that are invested at Vanguard? I've always done my own investing, but college tuition and retirement looms, and I'd like some hand holding now. Thanks!

Hi Guorami and welcome to the forum.

I've utilized both the Vanguard CFP plan and the advice that is accessible for free on this forum. Both are excellent, but I have found that the advice given by the posters on this forum is superior. The people who post here include bona fide experts in virtually every field that encompasses the investment world (such as asset allocation, retirement planning, tax considerations, etc.).

If I were seeking hand-holding, I would start here before paying for the Vanguard plan.

I used this service a while back. As long as it is free to you, then it's worth it. I would never pay the $250 you reference. For the review that I went through the financial planner entered my current investments into a portfolio creation application. That application spit out an age appropriate, risk appropriate "suggested" portfolio of index funds. The recommendations were fine. I'm not 100% certain, but I believe for a next step (I didn't do this) the financial planner will work with you to set up the trades to actually implement the suggested portfolio. One good feature of the review service is the opportunity to ask questions. If you haven't educated yourself on asset allocation or if you don't feel comfortable making your own trades, then the service is well worth it to get you started on the right foot.

Or, you can get the same type of help here on the Bogleheads blog if you request it.

Investor.Saver1 |
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Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

Enter Vanguard CFP in the search box under Quick links. You will find many previous discussions on this topic. I agree with the poster above that recommends the review only if it is free (Flagship clients). The reviews are cookie cutter primarily using TSM, TISM, and TBM in percentages in line with your risk tolerance. You will be better off putting the $250 in one of your funds IMO. If you go for the review, the CFP will generally spend an hour with you over the phone.

I have not used a VG planner, but many people here have. It seems that folks are generally satisfied.

My suggestion is to use both. Our services are free and we look at everything (well, not wills and such). You'll pay a small amount to use the VG planner. It won't matter whose advice you take, you will definitely learn $250 worth of stuff and you should learn enough to know which way you want to go.

If you do use both, I think you'll find that our suggestions are not very different.

I agree with others in this thread that $250 is too much. Especially for anyone who has already found this place!

I was also recommended a three-asset portfolio of TSM, TSIM, and TBM.

One opinion I got from the CFP that I think gave me some good insight is that TIPS are a bet that inflation will increase beyond what the market has already priced into nominal bonds. Yes, nominal bonds are already priced to take inflation into account. So far I have heeded that advice but am still considering to split off some of TBM to TIPS as a form of "insurance" -- realizing that it may not be optimal, but willing to pay that price for the insurance value. No one complains that their homeowners insurance is, on average, a "bad" investment (otherwise insurance companies wouldn't make any money). Besides, TIPS do generally make you money.

The CFP recommended against overloading REITS. This is advice I did NOT take, on the grounds that TSM is underweighted in real estate since so much of that investment is done outside the stock market. UBS says real estate is about 6% of the total investable market and TSM+TISM only get you to 3%.

Listen very carefully. I shall say this only once. (There! I've said it.)

I'm surprised so many people place the cut point at whether or not the advice is free or $250. If the advice is worthwhile free, then for something as important as this $250 is as good as nothing. If the advice is not worth $250, then it is certainly not worth nothing.

Guorami wrote:I am planning to move cash from Schwab to Vanguard. I'd like to pay for the one time review ($250) offered with the Voyager account status. Has anyone used this service? Will they consider all of my investments, or only the funds that are invested at Vanguard? I've always done my own investing, but college tuition and retirement looms, and I'd like some hand holding now. Thanks!

Hi Guorami and welcome to the forum.

I've utilized both the Vanguard CFP plan and the advice that is accessible for free on this forum. Both are excellent, but I have found that the advice given by the posters on this forum is superior. The people who post here include bona fide experts in virtually every field that encompasses the investment world (such as asset allocation, retirement planning, tax considerations, etc.).

If I were seeking hand-holding, I would start here before paying for the Vanguard plan.

Best wishes.

+9999

This forum has helped me to start a portfolio as well. Later for tax purposes I used an advisor and he was surprized with my knowledge and research

dbr wrote:I'm surprised so many people place the cut point at whether or not the advice is free or $250. If the advice is worthwhile free, then for something as important as this $250 is as good as nothing. If the advice is not worth $250, then it is certainly not worth nothing.

Maybe my previous post on this came off too negative. For someone coming in from the cold, I think a Vanguard CFP's advice is worth paying for. For someone asking about it here, maybe not so much, as they have already found a place full of good advice. It depends on how complicated one's situation is.

I also agree (and now see that I didn't post this here, but in another thread) that going ONLY by advice given here is not enough. One needs to educate one's self in order to recognize good vs not-so-good advice. But even a CFP, although useful for that, is not enough. Passive investing should NOT mean "just do what you're told!"

Listen very carefully. I shall say this only once. (There! I've said it.)

I did what your doing. I found myself at Schwab with some Vanguard funds. Then I was spending more time on this site with reading feedback that seemed to endorse Vanguard indexing passive investing. I talked with a Vanguard planner and worked with him several times at no charge, although that amount of money wouldn't have deterred me. Seemed like a natural next step for me since I was already in Vanguard although at another brokerage. You can transfer everything in kind and open a brokerage account and do anything that you want. I went with the planners advice and moved everthing basically into Vangurard funds. I hold some ibonds but I never looked back. Schwab I thought was more geared to the active investor and ipo's. They have a lot to offer but no comparison to Vanguard who punishes you for going in and out of your investments too often. Set it and forget it works for me. A tweak here and there